{"id":8023,"date":"2026-07-22T20:35:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T20:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/un-rights-chief-condemns-nicaraguas-decision-to-abolish-elections\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T20:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T20:35:27","slug":"un-rights-chief-condemns-nicaraguas-decision-to-abolish-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/un-rights-chief-condemns-nicaraguas-decision-to-abolish-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"UN rights chief condemns Nicaragua\u2019s decision to abolish elections"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>UN rights chief condemns worsening repression in Nicaragua, urging the restoration of freedoms and the rule of law.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The United Nations human rights chief has condemned Nicaragua\u2019s escalating crackdown on civil and political rights, days after President <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/20\/ortega-insists-no-more-elections-for-nicaragua\">Daniel Ortega<\/a> announced a plan to block elections and shut out the opposition.<\/p>\n<p>UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said on Wednesday that the \u201clatest developments further deepen the severe restrictions on fundamental freedoms, the dismantling of civic space, and the steady erosion of the rule of law\u201d in the Central American country.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/22\/irans-judiciary-warns-against-infiltrators-announces-new-executions\">Iran\u2019s judiciary warns against \u2018infiltrators\u2019, announces new executions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/22\/us-judge-sets-2027-trial-date-for-venezuelas-maduro-and-wife\">US judge sets 2027 trial date for Venezuela\u2019s Maduro<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/22\/key-takeaways-from-khalil-al-hayyas-first-speech-as-hamas-leader\">Key takeaways from Khalil al-Hayya\u2019s first speech as Hamas leader<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Ortega, a former leftist fighter who has ruled Nicaragua for almost two decades alongside his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, said on Sunday that \u201cthere won\u2019t be elections\u201d in the country, a move that would remove any prospect of a challenge to the couple\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n<p>General elections were due in November, but constitutional reforms passed 18 months ago extended the presidential term from 5 to 6 years, pushing the vote back to 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Turk said power in Nicaragua was increasingly being concentrated \u201cunder the co-presidency\u201d, with the ruling <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/5\/11\/nicaragua-orders-closure-of-red-cross-in-continuing-crackdown\">Sandinista party<\/a> already holding full control over parliament, all municipalities and the regional councils on the North and South Caribbean Coast.<\/p>\n<p>He called on the authorities to \u201creopen civic space, and restore the rule of law\u201d, warning that \u201cindependent expression of thought or opinion is systematically suppressed\u201d, urging that \u201cpeople of all political viewpoints must be allowed to vote and run for office, in line with the State\u2019s international human rights obligations\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The statement also cited the government\u2019s abrupt revocation of several lawyers\u2019 credentials earlier this month, which it said had no legal justification, and noted that at least 46 people remain arbitrarily detained on political grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Turk further raised concern over the treatment of religious groups, pointing to the unclear whereabouts of Bishop Abelardo Mata Guevara, 80, who was detained on June 29, and urged Managua to release all those held arbitrarily \u201cwith humanity and dignity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Since a deadly crackdown on protests in 2018 \u2013 in which more than 300 people were killed, according to UN figures \u2013 Ortega and Murillo have tightened their grip on Nicaraguan society.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UN rights chief condemns worsening repression in Nicaragua, urging the restoration of freedoms and the rule of law. The United Nations human rights chief has condemned Nicaragua\u2019s escalating crackdown on civil and political rights, days after President Daniel Ortega announced a plan to block elections and shut out the opposition. UN High Commissioner for Human &#8230; <a title=\"UN rights chief condemns Nicaragua\u2019s decision to abolish elections\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/un-rights-chief-condemns-nicaraguas-decision-to-abolish-elections\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about UN rights chief condemns Nicaragua\u2019s decision to abolish elections\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}